Device for preventing sound transmission through an aperture or a production-related duct in a wall, and a method for soundtight closure of an aperture or a production-related duct in a wall

ABSTRACT

A device for preventing sound transmission through a spacer tube, an aperture or a duct (1) is realized by inserting a damping body (21) which can be cost-effectively mass-produced and can be inserted through the apertures in the wall (15) without any effort and with correspondingly low cost. This eliminates the need for laborious plugging with rock wool or liquid mortar.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention relates to a device for preventing the transmission of sound through an aperture or a manufacturing-related duct in a wall. The invention also relates to a method for the sound-tight closure of an aperture or a manufacturing-related duct in a wall.

BACKGROUND

When constructing walls of concrete with large-area formworks, it is necessary to keep the formwork boards constituting the formwork at an exact distance from one another and, by means of clamping rods, to absorb the pressure created by the liquid concrete. For this purpose, spacer tubes are inserted between the two formwork boards constituting the formwork for the wall to be constructed. The length of these spacer tubes with the end pieces fitted on their ends corresponds to the thickness of the wall. The clamping rods are guided through the spacer tubes and also through the abutting formwork boards. Nuts which abut the outer side of the formwork boards and thus can absorb the forces from the backfilled liquid concrete composition are fitted on the free ends of the clamping rods that project beyond the outer skin of the formwork boards. After the concrete composition has hardened and the formwork boards and clamping rods have been removed, passages or apertures which connect the two surfaces of the wall remain in the freshly constructed wall. The two openings of said passages are usually closed by plastic plugs.

In housing construction, where high requirements are placed on noise protection and sound damping, these cavities between the two closure plugs form acoustic bridges. Thus for example in concreted stairwells the footfalls and voice sound generated there penetrate the walls and disturb people in living spaces in the adjacent homes or offices.

It is known from the prior art either to plug the cavities with steel wool or to fill the cavities with cement or mortar in such cases and/or in the regions where transmission of sound must not take place. Both procedures are very work-intensive and, if not carried out carefully and without an air gap, the sound can continue to penetrate the wall. After the mortar has hardened, spacer tubes filled with mortar are still permeable to sound as a result of the shrinkage thereof.

SUMMARY

An object of the present invention is to provide a device by which the transmission of sound through spacer tubes in concreted walls or through other ducts, resulting from manufacturing during the construction of concrete walls, in the wall or wall apertures is prevented. The degree of the suppression of the transmission of sound has to correspond at least to that value which allows for the surrounding wall region of the spacer tube.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device which can be produced cost-effectively and can be used with a small amount of work.

A further object consists in providing a method which facilitates the closing of the sound-conducting region of the spacer tube.

A further object is to provide a device which can be inserted in a sound-tight manner into tubes that vary greatly in their internal diameters.

This object is achieved by a device and by a method having one or more of the features described herein. Advantageous configurations of the device are described below and in the claims.

What is provided according to the invention is a device for preventing the transmission of sound, e.g. through a spacer tube of plastic, concrete or steel for clamping rods and further production-related regions on concrete structures that penetrate the walls, in which device, after the concrete wall has been finished, a sound-damping material is introduced into the spacer tube or into the apertures having different cross sections, wherein the sound-damping material is shaped as a prefabricated plug-shaped or rod-shaped damping body and formed such that it can be pushed into the aperture or duct.

The device is further distinguished in that the sound-damping material is encased in a tubular or hose-shaped casing, which casing can be pushed into the aperture. The device can be inserted without tools and with a minimum of time expenditure.

The device is further distinguished in that concrete, mortar, fibrous material, foam or solid plastic or a material which absorbs noises is used as sound-damping material.

In particular, the tubular or hose-shaped casing can comprise a wound tube of paper or plastic, a hose or a tube. In the case of a wound tube of paper, it can be moistened before being pushed into the aperture such that, as a result of swelling of the paper, the device lies in the aperture in a clamped manner without an air gap after the pushing-in operation.

It is preferable if the rod-shaped damping body has a length which corresponds to the length of the aperture or is shorter than the aperture, wherein the region which is not plugged is closed by end caps or plugs. An exactly predefined length makes it possible to achieve the maximum sound damping.

With an extremely sound-absorbing material, the maximum sound damping can also be achieved when it is in the form of a cylinder or element designed in a different shape that is shorter, and the spacer tube is closed by two conventional closure plugs at the ends thereof.

In a particularly advantageous configuration of the device, the damping body is fastened to a closure plug for closing the damped spacer tube. In the case of a device which are connected to the closure plugs, the result is not necessarily an additional handling requirement since, when the closure plug is being pushed at the same time into the end region of the spacer tube, the sound damping is ensured.

In another preferred configuration of the invention, at the closure plugs for closing the spacer tube, rod-shaped damping bodies are attached or formed as part of the closure plug, wherein the damping bodies can be shorter than the spacer tube. It is preferable if the front end of the damping body or closure plug runs in a conical manner. The remaining part is somewhat larger than the cross section of the aperture to be closed, in order to obtain a secure, airtight and sound-tight closure. The lateral surface of the damping body or closure plug can comprise additional encircling fins, ribs or O-rings which further reliably prevent the passage of sound through the labyrinthine formation.

In a further preferred configuration of the damping body, the surface thereof can be covered with a flocking or a foam-rubber cover, and as a result the formation of a gap between the spacer tube and the damping body can be compensated. Instead of a flocking, it is also possible to coat the surface with a very soft plastic or a foam in order to achieve the same aim, specifically the consequent prevention of an air gap.

If the closure plugs are produced directly with sound-damping material, there can be a further saving of time and costs and it is additionally ensured that no spacer tubes without sound damping are present.

It is preferable if the rod-shaped damping bodies are prefabricated to the dimension of the usual thickness of walls.

As an alternative, rod-shaped damping bodies can be produced in greater lengths and cut to size at the building site before insertion into the aperture or, if longer pieces are inserted, the protruding regions can be severed or cut off. When using rod-shaped damping bodies which are longer than the thickness of the wall, the logistics are therefore simplified, since the damping bodies which have been correspondingly cut to length do not have to be commissioned and provided in advance, but rather they are respectively adapted as required to the thickness of the wall. The rod-shaped damping bodies can be automatically prefabricated and therefore produced in a cost-effective manner and can be transported to the building site easily and in the respectively required quantity.

When using wound tubes of paper, said wound tubes or a soft coating applied thereto can be briefly moistened before insertion into the spacer rods, with the result that a tight closure of the aperture can be achieved by virtue of the swelling of the paper.

It is also possible for the prefabricated, rod-shaped damping bodies to be dislocated by untrained auxiliary personnel and nevertheless an optimum sound protection to be achieved without complicated method steps having to be practiced.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be explained in more detail by an exemplary embodiment of an aperture or duct with reference to a spacer tube.

In the figures:

FIG. 1 shows an arrangement of a spacer tube between two formwork boards with an inserted clamping rod according to the prior art,

FIG. 2 shows a first exemplary embodiment of a damping body for preventing the transmission of sound,

FIG. 3 shows a further embodiment of a spacer tube with severable end pieces,

FIG. 4 shows a cross section through a wall of concrete after the stripping operation,

FIG. 5 shows a cross section through the wall according to FIG. 4 with an inserted sound-damping and sound-absorbing damping body,

FIG. 6 shows a cross section through the wall with a sound-absorbing damping body composed of a wound tube with a filling of concrete or mortar,

FIG. 7 shows a cross section through a wall with a spacer tube, which is closed on both sides by closure plugs and has a damping body in between,

FIGS. 8A-8D show various closure caps for closing the open ends of the spacer tubes on the finished wall with and without a rod-shaped, sound-damping damping body.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 shows a spacer tube 1 known from the prior art, comprising a substantially cylindrical guide tube 3, having an inner lateral surface 13 and an outer lateral surface 15, and two end pieces 5 arranged on the end faces of the guide tube 3. In the case of this known spacer tube 1 according to FIG. 1, the end pieces 5 are pushed in the guide tube 3. They comprise a conical casing 7 which comes to lie outside the guide tube 3, a cylindrical portion 9. The two end pieces 5 are pushed into the guide tube 3 before the inserting operation between two formwork boards 11. The end pieces 5 can be consolidated with the guide tube 3 at the manufacturer or at the building site. This assembly work is usually done at the building site. Initially, the end pieces 5 can be pushed in fully or only partially; however, once a clamping rod 12 is inserted into the guide tube 3 and the formwork boards 11 are pressed against the spacer tube 1 with nuts fitted on the end face (said nuts not being illustrated in FIG. 1), the cylindrical portions of the end pieces 5 slide completely into the guide tube 3.

After the mutual bracing of the two formwork boards 11 and the required reinforcing iron is installed, the intermediate space between the formwork boards 11 can be filled with liquid concrete. The formwork boards remain on the wall until it is at least partially hardened.

After the hardening, the formwork boards 11 can be taken off after releasing the nuts on the clamping rods 12 and the clamping rods 12 can be removed from the spacer tubes 1. The end pieces 5 are likewise removed by being pulled out of the surface of the finished wall 15. What remain are frustoconical depressions 21 in the surface of the wall 15 and cylindrical spaces connecting the two surfaces of the wall 15.

To prevent the passage of sound through the passages from the one side to the other side of the wall 15, the material which is intended to damp the sound is inserted as a rod-shaped damping body 21. In a first embodiment according to FIG. 5, a cylindrical damping body 21, as illustrated in FIG. 2, which is shorter than the length of the guide tube 3 is pushed into said opening. The length of the damping body 21 is dimensioned such that a closure plug 25 can also be pushed into the guide tube 3 from either side and thus the frustoconical depression 23 can be closed in an esthetically neat manner. The rod-shaped damping body 21 can consist of concrete or mortar or of another material which absorbs sound and/or does not conduct sound, such as plastic, hard foam or a pressed material that preferably does not absorb water and is resistant to moisture.

In a further configuration, the damping body 21 comprises a sleeve 25 of cardboard, preferably a wound sleeve of paper, the interior space 29 of which is filled with mortar, concrete or another suitable sound-damping material (FIG. 3). The sleeve 27 can also consist of a closed, porous hard foam or a hose.

Illustrated in the partial cross section through the wall 15 according to FIG. 4 is the guide tube, referenced with reference sign 3. What can be seen on both end faces of the guide tube 3 are the conical indentations of the plug regions 19 which have become visible after removing the end pieces 5. It can also be seen that there is now a direct connection through the interior of the guide tube 3 from both sides of the wall and consequently any sound can penetrate the wall 15 unimpeded, however thick it may be. This cylindrical space 17, which has a diameter in the order of magnitude of from 20 mm to 36 mm with a tolerance of up to 3 mm, was filled previously with steel wool as explained at the outset, i.e. it is necessary to manually plug the steel wool into this narrow duct which, in power plants, is up to several meters in length.

In another known embodiment according to the prior art, concrete or mortar is filled into this horizontally running, narrow space. This is complex, and most notably the filling and/or sealing to 100% is scarcely achieved as a result, since after the hardening a narrow gap created by shrinkage already lets noises through.

FIG. 6 now shows a configuration of a damping body 21 according to the invention, which has been pushed axially into the guide tube 3. The diameter of the damping body 21 has an external diameter which abuts the internal diameter of the guide tube 3 in an airtight manner and consequently is somewhat larger than the internal diameter of the guide tube or through-duct and has a conically extending end. The damping body 21 can be shorter than the guide tube 3 in order also to be able to insert a closure plug 25 at both sides which, held in the end regions of the guide tube 3, completely or partially fills the frustoconical plug region 23 in order to satisfy esthetics and also to eliminate the visible remnant of the spacer tube. The closure plug 25 is described later on.

In a further configuration of the damping body 21, it comprises a sleeve 27, for example of cardboard or paper or else another cost-effective material, into which concrete, cement, mortar, insulating foam or a plastics composition is filled. The diameter of the sleeve 27 is dimensioned in such a way that it can be pushed in easily. If the sleeve 27, when it consists of paper, has also been briefly moistened beforehand, it expands in the guide tube 3 after being pushed in. The plug region 19 is closed as described in relation to FIG. 5. It goes without saying that, instead of a closure plug 25, the depression could also be filled with mortar.

The inserted damping body 21 makes it possible to achieve the situation in which the sound penetrating the spacer tube 1 is at least not greater than that penetrating the surrounding wall, and thus an acoustic bridge is no longer present.

Further formations of the damping body 21 are illustrated in FIGS. 8A-8D. The damping body 21 is either plugged into a corresponding receptacle on the closure plug 25 and protrudes into the interior of the guide tube 3 after the fitting of the closure plug 25 (FIGS. 8B and 8D). The length of the damping body 21, which is fastened to the closure plug 25, is preferably somewhat smaller than half the thickness of the wall 15. If a material which damps especially well is used for the damping body 21, the length can be much less than half the thickness of the wall 15.

In a further configuration, the closure plug 25 illustrated in FIG. 8C can consist as a whole of the material used for the damping body 21, i.e. the conical plug region 19 is not produced from plastic but from the same material as the damping body 21, e.g. from concrete, mortar, plastic or another sound-damping or sound-absorbing material.

Such closure plugs make it possible to prevent the passage of sound through the spacer tube 1 from both sides of the spacer tube 1. The position of the closure plug 25 illustrated in FIG. 8A can be seen in FIG. 7 on the left side.

FIGS. 8C and 8D show a recessed closure plug with sound protection damping. Such closure plugs 19 also serve to close the ends of the spacer tube 1 when a damping body 21 is not inserted between the closure plugs 25 in the center of the spacer tube 1.

In a further configuration, encircling fins 26 for tight sealing with the aperture can be formed on the closure plug 25. The fins 26 act as a labyrinth and consequently the fins 26 do not have to abut the spacer tube 1 closely. It goes without saying that fins 26 and for example flocking can be combined with one another on the lateral surface of the spacer tube 1.

In a manner analogous to the prevention of the transmission of sound through a spacer tube 1, the damping bodies with a corresponding geometric shaping can be used naturally also for sound damping or sound absorption in apertures in walls in which tubes have not been inserted. 

1. A device for preventing transmission of sound through an aperture or duct for clamping rods (12) in a wall (15) of concrete structures, the device comprising: a sound-damping or sound-absorbing material formed as a damping body (21) that is configured to be pushed into the aperture or duct after the wall is finished.
 2. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sound-damping or sound-absorbing material is encased in a tubular sleeve (27) or a hose-shaped element, which is configured to be pushed in the aperture.
 3. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sound-damping or sound absorbing material comprises at least one of concrete, mortar, fibrous material, foam or plastic that is placed in a sleeve (27).
 4. The device as claimed in claim 3, the sleeve (27) comprises a wound tube of paper or plastic, a hose, or a tube.
 5. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the damping body (21) has a length which is equal to or shorter than a length of the aperture.
 6. The device as claimed in claim 5, further comprising that the damping body (21) is fastened to a closure plug (25) configured for closing the aperture (1), and the damping body (21) is fastened to the closure plug.
 7. The device as claimed in claim 6, wherein the closure plug (25) that is configured for closing the aperture (1) is formed as part of the damping body (21), and the damping (21) is shorter than a length of the aperture (1), or the closure plug (25) is formed on the damping body (21) on at least one side.
 8. The device as claimed in claim 6, wherein the closure plug (25) consists of damping or sound-absorbing material.
 9. The device as claimed in claim 6, further comprising encircling fins (26) formed on at least one of the closure plug (25) or on a sleeve (27) that encases the sound-damping or sound-absorbing material.
 10. The device as claimed in claim 2, further comprising a flocking or a foam covering applied to the casing of the sleeve (27).
 11. A method for sound-tight closing of an aperture in a wall (15) of concrete, the method comprising: after the concreting operation, introducing a damping body (21) formed of a sound-damping or sound-absorbing material, in an abutting contact with an inner side of the aperture in an airtight manner, from one or both sides of the wall (15). 